October Freedom United Newsletter

An undercover Malaysian journalist has uncovered abuses of migrant workers working on fruit farms in Victoria, Australia. Saiful Hasam, a reporter from Utusan Malaysia, spoke to victims on a farm in Swan Hill in northern Victoria, where they recounted how they had been lured abroad by promises of good jobs. Instead, they were “paid a pittance, kept in overcrowded homes with exorbitant rent and effectively trapped in debt bondage.”

UK charities are warning that traffickers are targeting homeless people, exploiting them for slave labor under false promises of work and accommodation. Thomson Reuters Foundation reports that traffickers are bold enough to prey on the homeless at homeless shelters, soup kitchens and support groups.